Tweet about SLU and Rick Majerus

[GGGG]

I agree with you about 11 schools. Full round robin with one weekday and one weekend bye. The big east had 15 at one point. An odd number is perfectly fine.

[Aughnanure]

I agree with you about 11 schools. Full round robin with one weekday and one weekend bye. The big east had 15 at one point. An odd number is perfectly fine.

Would we really do 20 games? I mean, FOX would love that, but jeez that's a lot. Would really negate poor OOC play though (assuming the whole league didnt blow). At worst it would be 8 home-and-homes plus 2 with teams #9 and #10.

[NavinRJohnson]

No doubt in my mind SLU will be joining the Big East. Just a matter of when.

[GGGG]

Would we really do 20 games? I mean, FOX would love that, but jeez that's a lot. Would really negate poor OOC play though (assuming the whole league didnt blow). At worst it would be 8 home-and-homes plus 2 with teams #9 and #10.

Probably not but it would be fun.

[Aughnanure]

Probably not but it would be fun.

Agreed. Be different.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Would we really do 20 games? I mean, FOX would love that, but jeez that's a lot. Would really negate poor OOC play though (assuming the whole league didnt blow). At worst it would be 8 home-and-homes plus 2 with teams #9 and #10.

The Big Ten never did a full round robin when there were 11 teams. The only reason I remember that is because the year Illinois absolutely ripped through the conference in 2005 they only had to play the 2nd best team (who was also a final 4 team) Michigan St. once.

[GoldenWarrior11]

After hearing from some of you about it, I actually could see the conference staying at just 11 - if they expand.  20 conference games, everyone gets a home/home series with each and every other school.  You could get a bye during the season on a weekend and weekday (like Sultan said).  It gives FOX more programming, as well as an added market (big drive in realignment). 

Realignment talk has been really, really quiet since the conference began (or restarted).  I wonder if FOX and/or the schools are even considering addition(s).

[Aughnanure]

Probably not but it would be fun.

Just to expand, wouldn't it be cool, maybe, to play the 2 extra conference games during the traditional OOC timeframe (i.e., November and December)? Maybe even play them at neutral sites somewhere? If you want to get creative on scheduling, that's a cool start to the year.

[wardle2wade]

After hearing from some of you about it, I actually could see the conference staying at just 11 - if they expand.  20 conference games, everyone gets a home/home series with each and every other school.  You could get a bye during the season on a weekend and weekday (like Sultan said).  It gives FOX more programming, as well as an added market (big drive in realignment). 

Realignment talk has been really, really quiet since the conference began (or restarted).  I wonder if FOX and/or the schools are even considering addition(s).

Adding two extra conf games (in a world where other conferences doesn't have it) is a bad idea.  It will pile on at an extra loss for many potential tourney teams which doesn't look good when the committee compares resume.  The conference gets paid by tournament invites and wins, so I really think you are giving something up (potential $) and not getting anything in return.

[slingkong]

What are the chances of Saint Louis getting a Big East invite?  They fit the conference and institutional profile (private university, big city/media market, strong basketball tradition, big arena, etc.).

I personally think the only hold up is the lack of a clear-cut school for #12 (VCU, Richmond, Dayton, etc.).  If only Gonzaga was in in Cleveland or Michigan or something...   

I think calling STL a big city and saying SLU has a strong basketball tradition are both major stretches. Nice arena, though. The media market can only be called big because the suburban sprawl of STL covers a ridiculous amount of territory. Very, very few people in that huge territory give a rat's ass about SLU, though. But get their money via FOX and I guess all's well, right?

[chapman]

Long term, a program we absolutely want in.  Short term, if they don't give advanced notice I'd wait a year or two.  Starting five seniors this year, almost impossible not to have struggles for a couple years.  Though Crews has done a terrific job getting commitments lined up to re-build after shaking the interim tag and having virtually nobody committed nine months ago. 

Would rather have the imperfect schedule than increasing conference games.  What I see is the best draw of the schedule this year and hope is kept even if the schedule isn't perfectly balanced with expansion is the timing of head-to-heads.  The perfect double round robin this year was split evenly, where each team played all nine, never playing a team twice before completing the first match with everyone.  Makes it truly a different ballgame when you see a team for the second time and one or both teams are in a completely different season than the first match.  Much better than many of the old BE head-to-heads, like when we played Villanova twice in a week a few years back, and two of the first four games on the schedule yet didn't see others until March. 

[Tums Festival]

Could somebody explain to me why he seemed to have problems coaching at MU? I mean he clearly was a great coach but he didn't bring us anywhere close to what he did at the other 3 schools.  Note before anybody spazz's out and thinks I'm insulting him... I respect him I'm just curious. 

I was a student at MU when Rick became head coach, and  expectations were huge. People generally knew Hank wasn't getting it done and saw Rick, with his ties to Al, as our savior. If only he could have been a head coach somewhere first (junior college maybe?) to get that experience.

Also, the year before he became MU's coach, there was an interview with Al in Basketball Digest where Al said Rick was one of the three best coaches in the country and would have lots of success. Too bad it was everywhere he went except MU.